Bahrain spikers set for Asiad challenge

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain have named their final 12-player squad that will compete in men’s volleyball at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, starting later this month.

The team, coached by Ruben Adrian Wolochin from Argentina, is spearheaded by the Kingdom’s top volleyball stars, including Mohammed Yaqoob, Nasser Anan, Ali Ebrahim, Ayman Haroona and Mahmood Al Afia.

The Bahrainis also feature senior men’s team mainstays Abbas Sultan, Ali Habib, Abbas Al Khabbaz and Hussain Mahdi; along with two of the national game’s rising stars in Hussain Ehsan and Sayed Hashem Issa.

The Bahrainis have been training over the past few weeks under Wolochin for the Asiad, which will be their third major competition in recent months.

The nationals had also played in the fourth AVC Men Challenger last July in Chinese-Taipei—a tournament where they stunned international powerhouses such as Australia and South Korea en route to the gold medal game, where they lost to Thailand; as well as in the 22nd Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship last month in Iran, where they claimed eighth place overall.

Bahrain will be up against the Iranians and Nepal in Pool B of the preliminary round in Hangzhou.

There are six groups in this stage, with five featuring three nations and one comprising four.

Pool A includes China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan; Pool C features South Korea, India and Cambodia; Pool D consists of Chinese-Taipei, Pakistan and Mongolia; Pool E includes Qatar, Thailand and Hong Kong; and Pool F features Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Afghanistan.

The men’s volleyball tournament will be one of the sports that will be starting before the official opening ceremony of the Asian Games. Matches begin from Tuesday next week, while the grand inauguration is only scheduled for 23 September.

Bahrain get their campaign underway against the Nepalese on opening day, and then face Iran on Thursday next week.

Advance The top two teams from each of the six pools move on to the Round of 12, where a unique format will be followed.

There, the victors of the match between the Pool A winners and Pool F runners-up, as well as the victors of the game between the Pool B winners and Pool E runners-up, get a bye in the quarter-finals and go directly to the semis.

The other winners in the Round of 12 will compete in the quarters for the remaining two berths in the last four.

Men’s volleyball is one of the 18 sports Bahrain will be competing in at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Bahrain will be sending its largest-ever contingent to the Asiad, the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) had announced.

There will be 248 male and female athletes flying the Kingdom’s flag in the multi-sport event.

Aside from volleyball, the nationals will be competing in 17 other sports, including athletics, handball, boxing, judo, weightlifting, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, rowing, shooting, cycling, table tennis, taekwondo, sailing, basketball, football, E-sports and cricket.

Bahrain’s administrative team at the 19th Asian Games, headed by Chef de Mission Ahmed Abdulghaffar, left yesterday for Hangzhou to begin the final preparations for the national teams’ arrivals.

Also travelling to China were Deputy Chef de Mission Fajr Jassim Hassan, BOC technical manager Lounes Madene, and administrative team members Maryam Mardana and Hassan Abdulrahim.

This year’s Asiad will mark the 13th Asian Games Bahrain is taking part in. The BOC is hopeful for a record-breaking campaign in Hangzhou and for exceeding their medal tallies from the last two editions of the Asian Games.